


The Duet Paradox -INFERNO-

by BlytheOblivion



Series: Paradox [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8838592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlytheOblivion/pseuds/BlytheOblivion
Summary: Nova, a 20-year-old young woman who can interact with ghosts, finds herself being possessed by Dante, a 25-year-old dead man with the power of empathy and psychometry. The possession is suppose to last only 365 days - after which Dante will be sent to heaven to enjoy the paradise of the afterlife.But now, for these 365 days, the two of total opposites are forced to work together to handle their new complicated lifestyle. In addition to learning how to live together, they also have to deal with assisting the dead, resolving issues of their social lives, and helping each other overcome their respective pasts.All seems well, until Dante's powers begin to interact with strange dark entities that desire for Nova... A desire, born from a decades-old grudge...





	

### requiescat in pace

_Latin phrase_

 

  1. **Rest in peace**



 

\---

 

It was during the two hours break between her lectures that Nova first read Mattie’s messages.

 

**MATTIE**

_**Sorry** _

**MATTIE**

_**I can't make it tdy!** _

**MATTIE**

_**Ttyl?** _

**MATTIE**

_**> <**_ 

 

If anyone needed an interpretation: long story short, Nova has to go to that hateful lecture alone, again.

There was only about a month left until the finals for the semester, but it seemed as though the closer the date, the more unwilling Mattie was to attend classes. But as usual, Nova printed and paid for two sets of lecture notes, and headed to the library for a moment of lonely peace.

 

For the next hour or so, Nova engaged herself with some anime episodes, a little conscious about the people around her in case they had peeked over her shoulder, but still unable to contain her excitement when the main female character finally confessed her feelings. But that excitement was quickly drained away when the love interest denied her feelings, and the screen is filled with a light tone of melodrama as dried leaves flew across the whole scene in a mix of shadows and a reddish sunset. Nova dropped her head into her hands, almost wanting to punch her laptop into oblivion as the ending credits rolled across a dark screen.

 

A flash of unworldly colours flew across her screen.

In a moment’s surprise, Nova accidently made eye contact with the spectre’s reflection.  _Oh shit._  She forced herself to focus on the random Japanese names scrolling across the screen. Goose bumps rose on her skin, and she resisted the urge to stare directly at the figure, whose shape had repositioned back behind her, its gaze obviously burning through her back.

_Nope. Nope nope nope nope._

Nova quickly flipped to a more brightly coloured window, searching the internet for pictures of baby animals.

_Oh, cute puppies. Yes, cute cute kittens. Yes yes._

There is nothing behind her. Nope, none at all.

 

There were a few unusual characters around the library. It was usually full, but Nova had taken her chances this time by entering it without Melissa’s protection. She had figured it would be alright, since they were unlikely to approach her in the daytime, but, of course, there would always be a first to everything.

A cold breeze brushed against her back. Nova squealed, jumping a little from her seat. A few curious eyes from the living locked onto her, and she quickly darted her eyes back to her laptop.

 

The spectre’s head was right beside hers.

Its smile, menacing, widened as Nova’s eyes stared directly into its reflection.

Nova looked away, despite the coldness of her blood. She felt as the ghostly figure flited to the other side, trying to get in her face. She turned back to the other way.

“Hey!” the ghost cried, grabbing her collar.

The chair beneath her screeched aloud. Yet, despite the weird stares and the blood rushing to her head, she resisted turning around.

“Oi. You’re Chara, aren’t you?” the ghost said.

Nova couldn't resist rolling her eyes.

“What the fuck is with that reaction?”

Nova pursed her lips. It’s not as though he was looking for her anyway.

But the ghost wasn’t going to take any more. With a forceful pull, Nova was jerked off her seat as her chair collapsed beneath her.

She yelped, landing on her butt. Blood rushed to her head as she scanned the surprised faces around her and the sight of her fallen chair. With a twist of her body, she gathered herself to her feet and kicked the ghost.

There was a silent WHAM as her shin met with his ghostly groin. The ghost's expression changed from one of menacing to one like an injured wolf, with his eyes wide open and his mouth shrunken to a half-frown and a half-pout. He toppled over mid-air, grabbing the area between his legs as a howl overcame him.

 _Oops._  That was not where she was aiming for.

Nova took a peek around her. She picked up her laptop and her bag, and dashed out of the library before commotion could befall it.

 

It was still early afternoon. Students were walking to and fro from their lunch break to their next class, some chattering with wild laughter among their groups while others were absorbed in their phones as they walked with books in hand. Nova dashed through the masses with soft 'Excuse me's and 'Sorry's, all the while not daring to turn around despite knowing that no one should be following her.

She took a pause behind a pillar, shaking the cold, numbing sensation from her leg where she had touched the ghost. For a moment, she was about to rub it with her hand — until she recalled how she had kicked him.  _Nope, nope._  Shaking it would be plenty. She looked about the mass of people, and walked amongst them.

 

A cold wind caught her back.

She froze. The students around her walked without a pause, some noticing her sudden stop but returning to their lives as quickly as they were distracted. Nova turned to receive their glances, each of their faces the one of a curious young adult, but to Nova their raised brows and frowns only served to twist their features into something menacing.

A figure threw itself before her. She jumped. The male student, stunned by her outcry, apologised and quickly darted back amongst his friends, who laughed amidst unintelligible cries. Embarrassed, Nova darted from the pathway and stopped behind another pillar to catch her breath.

 _"I'm too easily scared!"_  She scolded herself. She had handled that library ghost well (Happy Father's Day to him), but it was another thing to be approached by a ghost with so many people around. Were they doing it to spite her? She was certain Melissa had something to do with it, since that girl often made enemies wherever she went.

_Man, wait till she gets back!_

Nova ran. Some eyes turned to her, but Nova went on while imagining that she was late for a class. She rubbed her arms to quell her goose bumps, but they stood strong on her skin. A cold breeze brushed against her neck, the sensation sticking to her back like hardened glue, but Nova kept herself from shivering and willed the heat in her legs to make it all go away.

_Nope nope nope nope nope._

She needed a secluded place. The stairs! She threw open the door to the emergency stairs and hurried down the steps, her feet sounding like explosions against the tiled staircase. She could hear the usual commotion coming from the open door, the noise fading slower than usual, before BAM! The door shut close to silence her movements.

 _Now what?_  Nova continued down the stairs, leaping two, three steps at a time, clenching her teeth in fear that she might accidentally bite her tongue. Her legs weren't used to the exercise, and each time she landed they protested with sharp pain striking her sole. But she persisted, heat and pain growing in the back of her throat, coldness in her limbs and fingers, when she finally reached the last flight of stairs.

She figured she could face the ghost directly. Two floors down was the lowest basement, where the carpark was. No one uses the stairs there.

At that thought, she spun around on the last flight of stairs, ready to face the unworldly mass that was quickly approaching her.

 

The door beside her slammed open. She jumped.

Her feet slipped.

 

In her moment of panic, she had turned away from the ghost to look at the opened door, scanning for the living being that might have entered. But before she could find relief from the empty doorway, her vision spun, as gravity pulled her in an unnatural direction.

She felt feet leave the edge of the stairs, her other leg crumpling behind her, her upper body lunging backwards, as her vision moved about in slow motion. She could see the remaining steps approaching her head, the shadow of her leg still trapped between her body and the stairs, and her other leg failing to land on a step soon enough to save her from it.

Nova flung her body to the side, avoiding her leg. She felt her thigh collide with the tip of a step as her bag slipped from her shoulder. The metal rails rang with an ear-piercing 'Clang!' as her body slammed into it, causing a dissonance as the side of her head hit the corner of a step. White filled her vision as her mind whirled. Then— THUD! She slammed into a wall.

A small shadow dashed towards her and tried to pick up her dislodged bag. But, as though to deny its wishes, its hands phased right through the straps, leaving the bag untouched and unmoving against the stairs. Its head turned and turned — between the bag and Nova — before it came to float before her eyes, the face of a young boy, looking almost close to tears.

For some reason, Nova knew the boy couldn't cry. He obviously had no body, and hence no tears. In her last moment of consciousness, she tried to recall why she had been trying so hard to run away in the first place.

The boy's concern was clear in his eyes as he muttered an apology. Or she thought he did. She couldn't hear him. There was static in his voice. And white. White in his face. White on the stairs. White everywhere. White. White. White.

 

\---

 

If fate should have it, a car was cruising along the roads when Nova was still watching anime in the library.

 

Inside the car, Dante kept cursing. Oh, how he loved being alone. He had all the freedom in the world. No offending anyone. No persons judging his every movement. No gossipers talking behind his back. No one. No one at all!

Dante drove through the highway at a speed slower than average. He let multiple other cars overtake him, cursed right back at the honking of drivers, all the while happy to buy some time to swear alone. They lived in a painfully small country, and no matter how faraway his sister's office was he could reach there in no time. Especially so in a car. Oh god, if only there was traffic! He would have a topic to vent his frustration, an excuse to slack off from his work,  _and_  a reason to put off meeting Viola. Kill two birds with one stone, and you get to eat their eggs too.

 

Due to his work, he was on his way to his eldest sister's office, a prospect he did  **not**  enjoy. Of his four sisters (yes, four), Viola was the one he could handle the  _least_. Much of it could be attributed to all the traumatic experiences she had forced on him in his childhood, most of which were due to her (notorious) fame as a genius fashion designer. Thanks to her he had to work part-time as a model (under the scrutiny of all those she had offended). A whole, fucking year. And what did he get in the end? Not a damn thing!

_Fuck modelling! And fuck fashion!_

Dante now worked as an editor of a fashion magazine. He would have avoided it if he could, had Dante not come to the hateful realisation that he had no skills worthy of a career. His colleagues have, since his arrival, pushed all contacts with the narcissistic, egoistic and flamboyant designer older sister, onto him. Which made the nature of his job as an editor all the more sketchy; not as though he particularly exceled in it, anyway.

 

As he tried to figure out the cause of his current predicament, he noticed a strange smell rising from his car. A smoky, chocking smell, like that of car exhaust. Dante coughed, stunned, and only then did he notice the fog that had begun to cloud his vision. The smoke had filled the inside of his car, but much of it was emitting from outside, under the hood.

He tried steering the wheel, twisting and turning it to manoeuvre the car to the side of the road. But the wheel was not responding, and even as he hit the brakes his car continued onwards, gaining speed down a slope.

He was in trouble. Viola and his office be damned — he needed to get out of this car. He fumbled for his seatbelt, feeling the car going faster from the pull of gravity. With a click the seatbelt came loose, and he threw himself out the door, dropping onto the road as he watched his car continue down the slope. Smoke was rising from its metallic body like a can of teargas, and Dante tried to calculate the exact distance he had even travelled in it to make it break like that.

_Welp. At least there isn’t much traffic._

A honk came from his side, and a moment of what felt like hot wind blew through his skin. He only had time to turn his head.

 

There was no pain. At least, not at first. And there was no sound. Or perhaps the impact had deafened him to the point where he could hear nothing.

But it was only an instant. Noise exploded by his ears as he heard himself shatter the windshield, bounce over the roof of the car, and hit the painful asphalt. He heard his bones crack. He felt his broken ribs puncture his insides, and the blood flooding his organs. He felt his whole body crashing down as a second car dragged him along, turning him over and over. He felt each sickening thud of his fading heartbeat ring through his head, before he flopped down to the road. Then everything stopped.

The pain was mild. He was in shock. But his brain knew. He knew.

There were cars coming to a stop, drivers and passengers running out to check his well-being. Someone screamed. Another called for someone and spoke nonsensical things. Someone shouted for an ambulance. A few asked if he was okay.

For some reason he felt like crying. He lay on the road, and saw the blue sky shining in his eyes. Damn sun. He never thought it was that bright. It was almost white, and a ring of rainbow looked like it was encircling it.

There was noise coming from all around him, of screams, of panic, of concern. Yet, lying there in the pool of his own blood, Dante felt… serene.

 

**The Duet Paradox - Inferno :: TO BE CONTINUED ::**


End file.
